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'THE TRACKER' Paintings

About the Artist 

Peter is gripped by the grandeur and complexities of the earth.  Born in 1947, he spent his first 10 years in the small township of Karoonda in the Mallee of South Australia and for this part, his world was one that was stark and imposing, characterized by tectonic processes laid bare, not dressed by the trappings of softer climates.  Peter has always felt spiritually in tune with the landscape and strongly connected to the indigenous people and their stories.  His paintings reflect this relationship.  They are stripped of unnecessary accoutrements, geometrically constructed with untamed colours that are often unbelievable in their intensity, his realism verging on the naïve, giving the works an intense inner drama and individuality.

After moving to Adelaide and finishing his education, in 1963 he began a career in Graphic Arts and Sign Writing in which he excelled and won awards in the fields of Silk Screen Printing and Design.  Whilst employed he began painting professionally holding his first solo exhibition in 1978.  Later he opened his own sign writing business followed by other ventures such as owning and managing a restaurant but all the while he continued to paint until eventually in 1996 his passion and the demand for his work saw him choose to become a full-time artist. 

He has travelled extensively within Australia and overseas and information gained from these artistic treks clearly assists him in capturing the essence, spirit and feeling of the land.  Peter will often produce several series of paintings, many of which have explored different styles, mediums and composition but all have been vibrant and confident interpretations of his innermost thoughts and feelings.  

Over the past 35 years Peter has held more than 50 Solo Exhibitions, participated in innumerable group shows and his work has attracted a substantial body of private and corporate collectors within Australia and an ever increasing range of international collectors.

Peter has served two terms as Vice President of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, lectured on his art and been a participant, advisor and curator of exhibitions in Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Dubai and the U.S.A. and his achievements in other areas of the arts are many; the following being just a few:   

In 1991 he curated an exhibition of artwork held in Penang, Malaysia, of the members from the Royal South Australian Society of Arts for the Adelaide/Georgetown Official Sister City, 25^th Anniversary Celebration Visit with the Lord Mayor and Council Members of the City of Adelaide.  One of his paintings was given as a gift to the City of Georgetown.  In 2001 the Adelaide Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages chose Peter to be the first contemporary landscape artist to have two of his paintings reproduced for the Australian Commemorative Birth Certificates for the Year of the Outback.  In 2005, Hollister Incorporated of Illinois U.S.A. chose one of Peter’s works to reproduce for their Christmas gift to their worldwide clients.  Cairns City Council in Queensland, Australia, chose Peter’s paintings to give to two of their Sister Cities, one in 2005 to the City of Oyama in Japan as a commemorative gift for the signing of their Sister City Agreement and the other in 2006 to the Mayor of Zhanjiang in Guagdong Province, China, for the Official Opening of the Australian designed “Friendship Gardens” in Zhanjiang.  Invited to participate in the ‘Intangibles en Terra Australia’ Exhibition at the prestigious Sala Kubo-Kuxta Gallery, San Sebastian, Spain, along with several other Australian Artists.

Peter is also well-known to Film audiences as being commissioned by internationally acclaimed Australian Film Director, Rolf de Heer, to paint 14 large canvases which appear as static scenes in the Award Winning film 'The Tracker'. (A main feature of the Adelaide Festival of Arts 2002 and the 51^st Melbourne International Film Festival, also selected to participate in numerous International Film Festivals). The inclusion of original artwork was a first for an Australian feature film and linked the art of painting and cinema in a unique way. The process taken and images of these paintings are published in a Book and can be seen on a Documentary featured on the DVD of the Film.

Peter's paintings are distinctive and a masterful fusion of colour and composition.  They combine realism with the contemporary and reveal to us landscapes and colours of nature which we sometimes take for granted but when you do experience them, there is complete recognition and association with what he has captured in his inspirational works.

March 2010

PUBLISHED AND FEATURED IN THE FOLLOWING BOOKS/MAGAZINES:

2010    Skywest Inflight Magazine OUTthere, May,  Western Australia/Northern Territory

2007    The Advertiser Review, May 5, South Australia

2006    YouYu Adelaide Japanese lifestyle magazine no. 28 South Australia/Japan

2006    Destinations Australia - Queensland

2003    Selected Contemporary Artists of Australia, Michael Berry - Victoria

2002     Peter Coad, Paintings and Drawings for the Film, The Tracker - South Australia

2000     International Artist Feb/March - New South Wales

1997    Camapa No. 3 Magazine - Russia

1991    Australian Artist Magazine, October - Sydney

1990    Craft-Arts Magazine, Oct/Dec - Sydney

1990    Artists and Galleries of Australia - Max Germein - Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition

            Craftsman press, Sydney, Page 126